Echiejile Set For Monaco Start, Eyes Eagles Return

Super Eagles defender Elderson Echiejile is set to make his first start of the season in Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League play-off against Valencia at the Mestalla Stadium.

Echiejile who missed his side’ s last two games in the French Ligue 1 has been included in coach Leonardo Jardim’s 20-man squad for the encounter and will likely start in the absence of Lavyin Kurzawa, who has kept him out but is now injured.

The former SC Braga defender is among the high-profile names left out of Nigeria’s 18-man overseas-based squad for next month’s African Cup of Nations clash away to Tanzania, but he has taken his exclusion in good faith.

“I’d keep working hard here with my team and hope I get back into the squad,” he told completesportsnigeria.com.

The winners of the Monaco, Valencia tie will advance to the lucrative group stages of the Champions League.